Multirate metering.



Patented Dec. 30, |9U2.

E. oxL'EY. MULTIBATE HETEHING.

(Application led Jly 27, 1899.)

2 4sheets-sheet a;

(No Model.)

Inv erwJLor .flush ace Oxleg,

Avebe No. 70,262. Patented nec. 3o, |902."

L oxuzv. MULTIHATE METEBING.

(Application led July 27, A1899.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

VVJQnesses. v Inventor: ,6m Y )EnluslaceCbcle,y

, 2 jqtt IINTTnn STATES ATENT EUSTACE OXLEY, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

NIULTIRATE METERINQ.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,262, dated December 30, 1902.

Application filed July 27, 1899. Serial No. 725,230. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern: central stationand providing means for con- Beit known that I, EUSTAOE OXLEY, a subnecting the meter-operating circuits between ject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing said control-wire and the supply-wires of the 55 at Lynn, in the county of Essex, State of Massystem, so as to produce the desired rate of sachusetts, have invented certain new and registration or throw in the desired meter, useful Improvements in Multirate Metering, my present invention being characterized by (Case No. l,099,) of which the following is a the fact that no switching mechanism is emspecification. ployed at the consumers stations and a sin- 6o The object of my invention is to permit a gle control-wire may be employed. 4 1o plurality of meters installed in consumers In the accompanyingdrawings, which illusplants or buildings and designed to register trate my invention, I have shown in. Figure the consumption of current at different rates 1in diagram such a plan of control as applied to be controlled from a central station, so as to a three-wire distributing system, the po- 65 to determine at a convenient point the hours tential of the shunt-circuit of the meter beduring which the consumer shallbe given the ing the maximum potential of the system.

benefit of a reduced charge. In Fig. 2 I have shown a similar arrange- In operating systems of current distribument, the shunt meter-circuit being connecttion and supply it is desirable to encourage ed between an outside wire and the neutral 7o the use of current during periods when the wire, as is usual in meters ofthe sro-called zo load is light, thereby tending to decrease the higii-efciency type. Myinvention is not, disparity in load between day and night servhowever, limited in application to three-Wire ice and condncing to a more efficient and systems, but may be employed generally with profitable operation of the system. In order supply systems in which an independent con- 75 to provide 'for such service, it is the practice trol-wire is employed to determine any one sometimes to install at a consumers station of a plurality of registering rates by means two or more meters or recording devices havcontrolled at a central station or other coning different recording rates, according to the trolling-point. amount of discount allowed foruse of current Referring first to Fig. 1,1 2 3 represent 8o during the periods of light load on the system the three distributing-wires of a circuit, and

3o or in some cases a single meter capable of 4 a control-wire extending throughout said registering at different rates. `Various methcircuit or desired portions thereof and proodshave been proposed for automatically convided at a controlling-point, as a central statrolling the connections of such meters, so as tion, with means for directing registering 85 to obtain the desired rate at the proper time. current through either of a plurality of me- Some of these depend for their operation upon ters 5 6 5 6 having separate dials. The speapparatus located at the consumers station ciic means employed in the systemillustrated and others are controlled directly from the consists of a switch 7, connected to the concentral station or someother control-point trol-wire and adapted to throw it -into com- 9c easy of access to the employees of the supply munication with different supply-wires of the 4o company. My invention relates to the latter system, the several meters being connected, type of control. I have heretofore described respectively, with these wires, so that by a in patents granted to me various systems for change of the switch the operative circuits establishing such control from a single conof the meter are opened or closed. The types 95 trolling-point. In prior systems described by of the meter shown in the drawings 'are prome I have shown means for accomplishing vided with two circuits, one of which is in similar results by means ot' a control wire or series with the work and the other'in shunt. wires extending from the supply-station and The shunt-circuits include a high-resistance switching apparatus at the consumers staarmature, which, as shown, is of the wellroo tions controlled thereby. known Thomson recording wattmeter type.

5o In my present invention I accomplish the The details of construction are well underdesired result by running an independent stood by engineers versed in the art, and are control-wire from a suitable point-say the therefore omitted from the drawing, which is intended merely to show diagrammatically a familiar type of meter. It will be seen that the shunt-circuit of meter 5 leads from the main l by way of a resistance and the armature-circuit directly to the control-wire 4, Whereas the shunt-circuit of the more rapidly registering meter 6 passes from the main 3 through part of the held-magnet of meter 5, and thence bya resistance in the armaturecircuit back to the control-wire. As the controlling-switch 7 at the central station is connected in the position shown in the drawings with the supply-pipe 3 the meter 5 is registering, whereas the meter 6 is cut out. The controlling-circuits of the meters are as follows: The shunt-circuit is completed by way of supply-wire 1, resistance 9 and armature, shunt connection 10 ofthe control-wire 4, and thence by way of the switch 7 at the controlling-station to wire 3. Thus the maximum potential of the mains is on the shunt-circuit. The shunt-circuit ot' meter 6being connected with wire 3 and the control-wire being similarly connected with said wire in the position of switch 7, as shown in the drawings, there is no difference of potential between its terminals and it remains inactive. The workcircuit for the meter 5 is from conductor 1 by way of connection 11 through the field-coils of both meters and back to supply-wire 3 by way of connection 12. By throwing the switch 7 to the open contact 13 at the controllingstation the control-wire will be connected with outside wire 1, thereby giving it the same potential as said wire, and a difference of potential will be imposed at the terminals of the shunt-circuit of meter 6, whereas the same potential will beimposed on the terminals of meter 5, which connect, respectively, with the outside wire 1 and with the controlwire 4.

In the modification shown in Fig. 2 the same system of control is embodied, except that the meter-shunts are so arranged that either meter may be coupled by means of the control-wire between the middle wire and one of the outside Wires of the supply system.

The meters may be constructed primarily in any suitable manner to give them dierent registering rates. In the position of the switch shown in the diagram the meter 6 is registering. As will be seen, its shunt-circuit terminals connect, respectively, with the control-wire 4 and with one of the outside mains 3, thereby producing a difference of potential, which sends an operating-current through the armature. The meter 6, however, has its shunt-terminals connected with the control-wire 4 and with the neutral wire 2. As the latter is in metallic connection with the control-wire through the switch-arm in the position illustrated, both sides of the shunt are at zero potential and no operatingcurrent iiows through the meter. If, however, the switch be thrown to the open contact, the meter 6 will be cut out, While an operating-current will iow through the shuntcircuit of the meter 6`rt by way of control-wire 4, which is Vraised to the potential of supply-l wire 3 by the change of switch connections, and thence through the shunt to the neutral wire 2. Thus it will be seen that the change of position ot' the switch shifts asupply-wire out of connection with one meter into connection with the other.

My invention is not limited in application to independent meters for establishing the dilerent registering rates. A single registering-train may be employed and the rate determined by a variable resistance according to a known type of construction, in which case, of course, the different positions of the control-switch simply determine the cutting in and out of the resistance, the terminals of which connect with the different potential mains.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A multirate-meter system comprising a distributing-circuit, a single control-wire, meter-operating circuits having one terminal of the rate-determining circuit of the several meters connected respectively to wires of different potential and the other to the controlwire by continuouslycompleted electric paths, and a switch at a control-station for changing the potential character of the control-Wire.

2. A multirate-meter system comprising a distribution circuit, a single control-wire, multirate-meter apparatus at the several stations having an operating-circuit in continuous electric connection with the distributioncircuit and the control-wire, and a switch at the control-station for imposing operatingpotential on a metering apparatus of desired rate.

3. A multirate-meter system comprising a three-wire distribution-circuit, a single control-wire, multirate-meter apparatus at the several stations having the several rate-determining circuits connecting respectively at one end with different distribution-wires and at the other end with the control-wire, said connections being continuously completed, and a switch at the control-station for altering the potential character of the controlwire.

4. A multirate-meter system comprising a three-wire distribution-circuit, a single control-wire, multirate-meter apparatus at the several stations having an operating-circuit provided with continuous iiXed connections between wires of different sign and a controlwire, and a switch at the central station for connecting the control-wire with wires of different sign.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of July, 1899.

EUSTACE OXLEY.

Witnesses:

DUGALD McKILLoP, JOHN M cMANUs.

IOO

IIO 

